Crucial has returned with the BX100 series solid state drive, featuring Micron’s most affordable 16nm NAND flash components. The Crucial BX100 SSD offers excellent performance to value-driven mainstream users, and delivers enthusiast speeds at a reasonable price. Benchmark Reviews tests the BX100 solid state drive against the fastest SSDs available.

SilverStone is at it again, but this time they are looking to mix things up by venturing into unprecedented areas. Lately, it seems that the competition has shaken the sub-$100 case market, and SilverStone is not willing to stand down. Mostly known for their premium cases and their innovative ideas, SilverStone has taken a different approach this time from their top notch designs and instead released the SilverStone Kublai KL05B-Q Mid-Tower case, which Benchmark Reviews will be taking a look at today.

As more enthusiasts realize that they don’t need the expansion capabilities of standard ATX motherboards, mATX and mini-ITX systems are exploding in popularity, and we’re seeing some real innovation in small systems case design. Today we have Phanteks’ latest, the Enthoo Evolv ITX case. This case has excellent air flow, a very versatile design, and is perfect for those who want to water-cool their systems: it can accommodate a 240mm radiator and even comes with a bracket for a separate water pump if you want to roll your own. Long graphics cards are no problem, either, and integrated cable management features make a clean build easy. Of course the real proof is building a system in this case, and that’s exactly what Benchmark Reviews will do.

If you have ever bought a SilverStone case, you would probably agree that the price can be easily justified by the over-the-top build quality and the unique designs that can only be obtained by buying one of the many cases that SilverStone has available. It has been over a year since SilverStone last released a member of the Kublai series, and when they mentioned to Benchmark Reviews that they were updating this line with the Kublai KL05B-W, we immediately asked for a sample.

SilverStone brings us the Precision Series PS11B-Q ATX case for the budget minded or entry level enthusiast. The Precision Series includes two variants, the PS11B-Q and the PS11B-W. This review will focus on the SilverStone PS11B-Q, which is the silent version of the Precision series.

The Ozone Neon Precision Laser Mouse is their mid-level gaming mouse offering, and boasts 128KB on-board memory, on-the-fly switchable resolutions, multiple profiles, 8 programmable buttons, and a 6400-dpi laser sensor. Its ambidextrous design separates it from most other gaming mice, and today Benchmark Reviews will take a detailed look at this new entry in the gaming mouse field.

In reality, most hard disks seldom see operating temperatures below the chill of a server room or beyond the warmth of rack space, and most disks will not commit an URE that crashes a RAID-5 rebuild. While it is agreed that better parity schemes exist, the exception is not the rule. My customer could have retained cold storage data to individual disks via removable drives, with no redundancy at all. In fact, most organizations already use a single removable disk or cloud container for their nightly backup routine. My customer choose a special backup appliance that fits three disks into a single cartridge, further protecting archived data and proving RAID-5 still has business applications.

Back in 2005, it was almost unthinkable to build a small form factor system due to the existence of a major trade-off between performance and efficiency. Nowadays, the market for small form factor systems has catapulted itself, and has gotten as far as to make companies like Raidmax to adapt and introduce itself to this market. A month ago, Benchmark Reviews took a peak the Raidmax Hyperion, the first Micro-ATX case from a company mostly known for their aggressive looking Mid-Towers. Today, we take a look at the Raidmax Atomic Mini-ITX Case, an even smaller case, with a lot of potential.

The SilverStone PS11B-W is a versatile entry level enthusiast case, featuring bottom-mount PSU, USB 3.0, variable size fan mounts and locations, a variety of hard drive mount options, and space enough for the most gigantic of graphics cards on the market. In this article for Benchmark Reviews, I’ll be putting the SilverStone PS11B-W to the test. Can the SST-PS11B-W deliver on all it’s promises? Let’s find out.

The Strix brand, ASUS’ new performance-to-premium gaming brand, was launched in May of 2014. Modeled around the mythological Roman owl. In it’s line up is the Strix Claw (a 5000 DPI optical mouse), the Strix DSP (7.1 ch. USB headset), the Strix glide control/speed mouse pads, and the Strix Tactic Pro gaming mechanical keyboard. In this article, Benchmark Reviews tests the Strix Tactic Pro keyboard to see if meets expectations and lives up to the ASUS name.

Mini PC’s are a crucial part for a media center PC and even small compact gaming PC’s. With the Raijintek Metis Classic computer case, system builders can now build even smaller and more compact media center or gaming PC’s. This lightweight aluminum case supports mini-ITX motherboards and even a full size ATX power supply. The Metis comes in a variety of colors to choose from. These colors include red, black, silver, blue, green and gold. Benchmark Reviews has been given this gold sample for this review. With the right hardware components, the Metis can be turned into the perfect computer for the living room and even a high-performance gaming machine in a small form factor.

After Cougar’s fully featured 700K mechanical keyboard & 700M aluminum gaming mouse were released in 2014, a streamlined mechanical 600K & ergonomic 600M followed close behind. It’s not surprising then, in early 2015, that Benchmark Reviews has the opportunity to take a closer look at Cougar’s newest gaming keyboard; the 500K.

As the size of information stored in the cloud grows increasingly larger, IT managers must plan on getting data out of the cloud when it’s critically needed during disaster recovery. For some businesses, the cloud is a place to deposit a second copy of data already retained locally. For others the cloud is primary storage, where unique data is created and modified. Problems arise in both cases: when local data is lost due to fire, flood, or theft, when the data is too large for a timely transfer across limited Internet bandwidth, or when a cloud provider shuts down. This all begs the question: is redundant data in place?

EVGA continues their expansion into the peripherals market with the introduction of their TORQ peripherals line; today, we have the new EVGA Torq X5 Gaming Mouse to review. Benchmark Reviews has previously looked at the EVGA TORQ X10 Gaming Mouse and we liked it enough to give it our highest rating. The new X5 Gaming Mouse sacrifices a few features for a lower price point, but how does it perform? Let’s find out.

This case, the Sentey Optimus Plus, features a large side panel window instead of fan mounts. Additional features include a fan controller, filtered intakes, a dedicated cooling fan for hard drives, and a SD card reader. These features come at an additional premium though when compared to other cases in the same price range. In this Benchmark Reviews article, I will discuss the Optimus Plus in depth and whether or not this is a good mid budget case for your next build.

QNAP Plex Media Server App for Turbo NAS TS-x31 Series Released QNAP®, Inc. today proudly announced that the new Plex Media Server app has been published and is available for the TS-x31 Turbo NAS line up via free download in the QTS App Center. By installing the Plex Media Server app on to your QNAP NAS, …

Team Group Inc. TM4PS4 and TM8PS4 Ultra Slim Solid State Drives Announced A revolutionary, compact and lightweight companion for both desktop and notebook users Team Group Inc., the world’s leading memory brand has announced today the launch of our solid state drive TM4PS4/TM8PS4. This next generation high speed SSD M.2 (also known as the Next …

LG Magna, Spirit, Leon and Joy Smartphones Released 3G and LTE Devices Impress With Stunning Design, Responsive In-Cell Touch Displays and LG’s User Experience LG Electronics (LG) kicks off the global rollout of its new mid-range smartphone lineup starting in South America to be followed closely by Europe, Asia, Middle East Africa and North America. This …

Crucial has returned with the BX100 series solid state drive, featuring Micron’s most affordable 16nm NAND flash components. The Crucial BX100 SSD offers excellent performance to value-driven mainstream users, and delivers enthusiast speeds at a reasonable price. Benchmark Reviews tests the BX100 solid state drive against the fastest SSDs available.

SilverStone is at it again, but this time they are looking to mix things up by venturing into unprecedented areas. Lately, it seems that the competition has shaken the sub-$100 case market, and SilverStone is not willing to stand down. Mostly known for their premium cases and their innovative ideas, SilverStone has taken a different approach this time from their top notch designs and instead released the SilverStone Kublai KL05B-Q Mid-Tower case, which Benchmark Reviews will be taking a look at today.

HTC One M9 Smartphone Debuts Beautifully designed inside and out, the HTC One M9 is the most personal, intuitive, powerful and elegant smartphone from HTC yet. HTC America Inc., a leader in mobile innovation, will begin selling its highly anticipated new flagship device, the HTC One® M9 that comes with the industry-leading UH OH™ Protection, online …

EVGA SuperNOVA 650 GS and 550 GS Power Supplies Introduced Introducing the EVGA SuperNOVA 650 GS and 550 GS power supplies. These power supplies take the award-winning features of the new EVGA “GS” lineup and provide them at an extremely affordable price. The EVGA SuperNOVA 650 and 550 GS power supplies offer superior performance, Gold-rated …

ASRock X99E-ITX/ac Motherboard Introduced Intel’s X99 chipset used to be represented by a long line of huge and bulky EATX or ATX motherboards, because the CPU, chipset, memory and whole layout required an extra large PCB to contain the extreme performance. But that was all yesterday’s history. Now ASRock’s research and development team has worked out …

As more enthusiasts realize that they don’t need the expansion capabilities of standard ATX motherboards, mATX and mini-ITX systems are exploding in popularity, and we’re seeing some real innovation in small systems case design. Today we have Phanteks’ latest, the Enthoo Evolv ITX case. This case has excellent air flow, a very versatile design, and is perfect for those who want to water-cool their systems: it can accommodate a 240mm radiator and even comes with a bracket for a separate water pump if you want to roll your own. Long graphics cards are no problem, either, and integrated cable management features make a clean build easy. Of course the real proof is building a system in this case, and that’s exactly what Benchmark Reviews will do.

Highly Reliable Systems, the innovative American-made server backup storage experts, have announced at the ASCII Group Success Summit immediate availability of NetSwap firmware release 2.13. This update includes a newly developed High-Rely DeltaSync Technology, which enhances synchronization functionality for NetSwap and RAIDFrame server backup appliances. DeltaSync is a file-level tracking feature that queues changes in memory, and promotes significantly improved synchronization times between High-Rely backup devices and their targets.

SCOSCHE sportCLIP 3 Adjustable Sport Earbuds Released Designed for the Active User The new sportCLIP™ 3 Sport Earbuds with tapIT remote and mic, announced by SCOSCHE during CES 2015, are now available. Designed for the active user, the sportCLIP 3 are the ideal workout accessory for users looking for a comfortable, lightweight, in-ear headphone that …

NeoLAB N2 Smartpen Debuts Neo smartpen N2 instantly stores handwritten notes and drawings, enabling a seamless transition from paper to digital Today’s launch of NeoLAB Convergence’s Neo smartpen N2 (N2) marks an exciting milestone in the emerging smart pen category. N2’s promise is simple: just write as you would with any other pen, and the …